Boom!

 It seems like every year I am able to score a great deal on a lot of Hollow-body frogs on eBay. The Buy It Now on this lot was ridiculously low. I paid under $2 a frog.  I'm amazed that with the Gen 1 Phat Frog, it wasn't snapped up immediately.   

Aug 3rd Bass Snatchers Rabbit Lakes Tournament

Weather: The day went back and forth between partly and mostly cloudy.  Wind was light in the morning building to about 10 MPH out of  the NW in the afternoon. Temps went up quickly from a cool morning into the low 70's.

The Day:  We started right around 7AM thanks to my boater Art showing up a bit late.  We got our starting spot, a reed point with boulders on the West lake, despite going out 9th.  The point didn't give us anything but about 15 minutes in as we headed back to the East I got 14.5" on a yellow Zoom Horny Toad out of the reeds.  I was awfully glad to have it, because I came into the tournament awfully pessimistic.  About 10 minutes later I caught one that was to small on the Horny Toad.  Eventually we pulled off of the reeds and slop and I got another dink that didn't measure on a black/blue Berkley Powerbait Crazy Legs Chigger Craw texas rigged with a 3/16oz tungsten weight.  Nothing else happened out there so we moved.

We went to the mouth of a slop bay and worked our way in.  In the pads I got a 15" fish on a Yellow Spro Frog.  I think that was the only fish we had hit in the slop.As we came out of the bay I think that is were Art got his first fish of the day.  Next we headed to a hump that Guy and I fished in my last tournament on Rabbit Lake.  Art just got done telling me "this didn't seem to be the deal" when I hooked into a quality 16.5" bass on the Chigger Craw.  Next at my suggestion we went to a weedline off of some docks that Guy showed me at the previous tournament. I cast into a clump of cabbage weeds that were on the edge of a weed point with the Chigger Craw.  I thought I was caught on some weeds but then my pole kept bending, so I set the hook.  It immediately jumped showing me it was a bass and it was a good one.  When I got it in I estimated it at 19.25".  I had to estimate it because Art ruler was only 17.5" in length.  Art guessed it was close to 5lbs and I said it was a 4 for sure.  It turned out to be 4lbs 4ozs and won me the Lunker/ Big Bass "wood".  Needless to say I was feeling much more positive about the day at this point.

As we worked our way East I spotted a stick in the cabbage on a reed edge and pulled a 15.25" off of it on the Chigger Craw.  Art got a fish off of some  pads with the wind blowing into them.  I missed a good bite in the reeds with wind blowing into them on a craw tube near our starting spot.  We ended up going to the far West end of the lake.  Art lost a good fish right away on a frog, then he caught a dink that was too small.  We worked around the bay.  I did have one hit in the slop, but it may have been a pike.  As we came to the mouth of the bay Art got one in the pads on a frog.  As we worked our way East I got my limit fish, a 14", on a Hack Attack Jig with a Chigger Craw trailer out of a pad edge that had wind blowing on it.  We got back to Guy's docks and I pulled a 13 incher that didn't help me off of a boat lift on the Hack Jig.  On the next dock I culled out the 14" with a 15" with the Hack Jig.  That was my last bite of the day.  We fished some more slop and Art missed some hits.

Results:  The guys really sacked them in this one.  My 14lbs 6ozs bag was only good enough for 13th Place.  Chuck Steinbauer won his 3rd tournament of the year and second in a row with 18/05.

Thoughts:  Huge thank you to Guy Henkensiefken for showing me the area/ spot where the big bass came out of.

We didn't fish in the East Lake at all.

Turns out Guy is my boater for the next tournament, which is a "blind" tournament where we won't find out what lake it's at until that morning.

My Lucky Night! (A Good True Fish Story)

But it didn't look that way to start out with. I arrived at the GOMH at about 8:30PM and started casting my white Stanley Phantom just to the left of "the juice."  The "juice" is now plugged up with weeds. On about my third cast a fish was hitting my lure and I jerked.  My Phantom came off of the Norman Speed Clip.  I must not have put it on correctly because that has never ever happened to me with a topwater lure;  Spinnerbaits more times than I care to think about, a couple of times with diving plugs, but never a topwater.  Anyway I hadn't hooked the fish, so I could see it floating out there. I immediately grabbed the chartreuse firetiger Phantom and started casting for it. On about the 3rd attempt a jumpin bullhead jumped all over the chartreuse Phantom. Keep in mind I was not working the bait, just trying to catch my lure.  I quickly reeled it in the discover it was a 19" Derby Fish.

 I got the fish back in the lake.  The current was not pulling from the area my Phantom was sitting, so I re-spotted  it and tried in vain to hook it.  But after about 10 minutes of that a boat came through the channel and agreed to try and get it for me.  Being that it's such a big bait he spotted it no problem when I cast to show him where it was.  I got my Phantom back!  I do have one more in that color, but all the same I don't want to ever lose any of them.  I may never be able to find another one of any color.

My hero driving away

gSince he went through the "new juice" I cast a Spro Poppin' Frog off to the East and got a 15.5" on that.  I went back to throwing the chartreuse Phantom and got four more jumpers from 13" to 15.5" before the mosquito's chased me out at around 9:35PM.

Bass Snatchers Leech Lake June 30th

Well due to my sore back  I'm getting to this a bit late, but better late than never.

We launched out of Horseshoe Bay around 7:45AM.  And we were fishing 5 minutes later down in Uram Bay.  First cast I landed a 17.75" on a white Zoom Horny Toad out of the reeds.  I thought great, I'm screwed. Getting a fish on the first cast has been bad luck for me in the past.  About 20 minutes later my boater Darren landed a 5lb 50z fish that was big bass for the tournament.  Unfortunately he was 3ozs short of our club's buy in running big bass pot.  Darren missed a couple of bites and had a pike steal his Spro he got the fish on.  We worked around the bay for a couple of hours.  As we were working our way out I spotted a fish hit something in some shallow reeds.  We moved that way.  I put a cast in the area with a Mad Maxx Big Sexy Frog and got smacked by a 15.75".  Darren ended up missing one more bite, then we headed for Sucker Bay, which took about  25 minutes to get to.


It clouded up by the time we got up there.  We started in some Rice on the West side of the bay.  I think Darren got 1 in the rice, then he broke off his other Spro Frog.  We got up by some docks and Darren got a fish on the crawtube, and I jumped off a good fish on a Spro.  On the backside of the same dock, I hooked an 18", which was my big bass.  I think Darren got a couple more among the weeds on the docks.  

Next we went to some Reeds and Darren and I doubled up on crawtubes.  My fish was 14.25".  I next got a 15.75" on the crawtube.  I filled out my limit with a 13" on a white Horny Toad.  Next I stuck a nice pike in the reeds. I missed another hit.  Darren was catching and missing fish occasionally.   We got to some undercut banks and I got a 14.5" on the crawtube.  I missed one more hit on the undercut banks before we got into rice again.  We moved across to the East shore and I missed a couple on frogs, before I finally caught my last fish, a 16.25" on a Mad Maxx "Big Sexy" after the sun came back out.  Darren got the last keeper.

My 6 fish went for 16/11, which is my best Snatcher weight ever, but was only good enough for 21st Place. The weights were crazy.  Darren got 5th with 19/7. Four bags we over 20lbs and Art caught the new Snatchers biggest bag at 22/10 and his boater Todd Berghuis caught 21/14.  An 18/7 bag was 12th place.  We blew away the club's record average bag by over 3lbs at 16.7lbs. Blew away clubs record total weight in a tournament by 127lbs.


Overall it was a fun day and I can't complain to much Darren had us around good fish.

Morning at the PRO

This morning I fished out of the Trophy from 7AM to 10:30AM.  I fished in the Platte River Outlet area of Sullivan Lake.  I decided to hit the SE side of the Intersection on a whim.  Turned out that was a good call as I got my biggest fish there.

17.25"

I think I got it on the Horny Toad, but I may have got it on a black Spro Frog.  I think I got 5 in this area.  Then I headed to the River mouth and got a small pike.  I got a couple in the River mouth, a 15",12"and a pike in the river, and a couple of 13.25 at the dam and a 10" on the Grass Pig.  I got a 13" on the way out at the River mouth.

12 bass
2 pike

Tonight on Platte

Tonight I fished Platte Lake from 5:30PM to 9:30PM.  I started out across from the access in the vicinity of the   maidencaine. I didn't get anything until I got up closer to shore in the Reeds.. I got two 14 inchers on consecutive casts.  I got a 15 on the Grass Pig.  It was the only one I got on the Grass Pig.  The rice is up enough to foul the Grass Pig so I didn't throw it much.  I got into the rushes up by shore and caught some on the Horny Toad and a yellow Spro Bronze Eye Frog.  I fished near a tree that was fallen into the lake and I got a pike.

22"

 I went around the point to check a little river inlet, but a pontoon was sitting on it, so I headed up to the NW Corner. I managed to pooch my first half a dozen bites or more on the Horny Toad before landing this 16", which was my big fish of the night.

I then managed to miss a couple of more good bites.  Of coarse I caught a 12 incher that smacked the Toad.

I moved to the North Point and got 14.5 on the Toad and a couple on the Spro.  I made one last move to the more East North Point and got a 15 on the Toad and a 14" on the Spro.  Over all I missed a lot of bites.

Baxter Bass Snatchers Mississippi River(Lum Park) July 31st

(Tournament Winner Dennis Lothspeich 18lbs)

Conditions- Temps started in the high 60's and went up to the low 80's. Sun and light winds.

I believe we blasted off around 10 to 7AM and my boater Paul and I headed upriver. On the way we got passed by 2 or 3 boats. Thankfully none of them were headed to our starting spot. Our starting spot was a fair sized backwater lake with clear water and excellent looking weeds where we had a few bites in pre-fish. We started at the mouth of the lake in the river and worked our way in. It didn't take long and I was casting to the area I had a blow up on my hookless spook during pre-fish. Unfortunately nobody was home. We worked our way North against the East bank in excellent looking rice with pads. After about 20 minutes of working the East bank. I started throwing the big sexy Mad Maxx frog to the West out where there were some small pad clumps with submergent weeds that reached the surface. As I was pulling onto a pad clump I had a fish boil on the frog. When I came off the pads, there was no follow up so I reeled in and cast back to the spot. This time after I came off the pads something hit the frog but didn't take it. I let the frog sit than slowly started working it and this time the fish came up and took down the frog. I got a fairly good hooksett and felt the weight of the fish, but then my frog came flying back at me. I don't know if it was a bass or not, but missing my first bite was not a good way to start the day.

Eventually we started running away from the East bank and started fishing to the West while moving South. Man was this some prime looking water. On one of my casts to this fabulous looking stuff a 18" Largie that went 3lbs 10ozs smashed my rainforest yellow Spro Bronzeye Frog. Man was I glad to have her in the boat. Not only would I not skunk, but I had a quality fish. As we worked our way South and started moving to along out from the South Bank I started throwing a yellow Zoom Horny Toad. On a cast back out to the North to some isolated pads with submergent weeds that were to the surface I had a bass blow up the toad. I set the hook and my telescopic 7'3" St. Croix Avid broke in two at the telescoping point about 9 inches above the reel. Holding just the rod handle with the rest of the rod in the lake, I just continued to crank and was pleasantly surprised when a 14.25" largemouth was still attached to my hook in a mess of weeds. Breaking the rod really sux as it's one of my favorites and they no longer make that model. I had 2 of them, so now only 1 is left.

We worked our way back towards the mouth of the lake and my boater Paul had a blow up on his frog out by the river. The fish didn't get the frog, so I told him to cast back and see if it would hit it again. He cast back and sure enough he had another hit and this time he hooked up. In the process of catching the fish and getting it in the well we drifted out to where the lake mouth met the river. I cast a green pumpkin Lake Fork Craw tube upriver to a small point in the rice and sure enough I had a hit. I laid the wood and brought another 14.25" into the boat. We kind of sat there and worked the area and then started moving up river to the North. I had what I think was a pike flash at my Crawtube, but it didn't get it. Subsequent casts didn't produce any bites. We kept moving North in the river pitching to the rice wall. After doing that and not getting anything in about 20 minutes we switched to the opposite shore which is a big rice island. As we were making our way to the head of the island, I had a bite, but it was a rock bass.

At the head of the island we met another club boat and they only had 1 bass at that point. We moved up river aways and fished the West rice line down to up river of another backwater. Once we got about 25 yards past the mouth of the backwater, we fired up the big motor to run back to the mouth. We had a couple of bites in this backwater in prefish. Even though there was baitfish activity, we didn't have any luck and we headed out after covering about 50 yards.

We went back to our starting spot and basically ran the exact same loop. We got into the same general area where I had lost that first fish, but the boat was now West of the isolated pad clumps. I was throwing a white Zoom Horny Toad and had a bite in close to the boat. The fish pulled on the Toad but didn't hook up. I pitched the toad back into a weed opening and let it sink. As I was kind of working the Toad in place, something came and took the Toad. I set the hook, but didn't hook up and the Toad was pretty ripped up. Probably a pike, but who knows. I quickly got the Toad re-rigged and threw back into the weed opening. Nothing. We worked through the great looking stuff and as we were working off the South bank. I caught a pike casting out to isolated pads just like with my 2nd bass. Just a bit after I got the pike, Paul caught a small bass.

Eventually we worked our way back out to the mouth. We were sitting in the mouth when I had a bite. I had the fish on long enough to see it was a pike before it got off. I was pitching into the rice right behind the boat, when I saw my line jump. I thought for sure it would be a bass, but I pulled out about an 16 inch pike.

Next we headed to the spot where another boat started on the East side of the rice island we fished before. Another club boat was working the East bank on the channel of the river. They had 2 fish and 1 fish. One of the guys said he had caught 5 or maybe it was 6 species of fish. We worked our way up the East bank of the island, so we were casting West. I had a bite, but came up empty on the hooksett. I pitched the Crawtube back to the spot and it hit it again. This time I hooked up. Dogfish!!! As I was playing it next to the boat and it got off. Up river a little ways I got snagged and had to break off. I started pitching a small Gander Mountain green with multicolored fleck beaver. As we got up toward the head of the island I had a hit and set the hook. The tails of my beaver were gone. I tried pitching back to the spot tailless but didn't get anything. At the top of the Island we were able to talk with the boat we met at the top of the island before as these guys were working up the West side of the river. I think they had 2 fish a piece and had lost some fish.

There was about an hour and a half left at this point and as it seemed the main river rice just wasn't being productive so we headed up to Little Rabbit Lake. As we were taking the channel in, another club boat followed right in behind us. They were sitting at 4 and 0 with the 4 being smallies that they went way up river for in the morning. They started fishing a point and so we went to the next point down the lake. I had re-rigged a green pumpkin Crawtube and started throwing that. As we worked the point I got a few bites, including one that was very promising, but every hooksett came up empty. After we got around the point we moved to another weedline. It was pretty dead until we got to another little point. I had a bite and set the hook catching yet another little pike. With about 10 minutes left to fish we went and hit some slop, which was fruitless.

We got back with about 5 minutes to spare.

Results- My 3 bass went 6lbs 9ozs, but I had a 2oz dead fish penalty. Without the penalty I would have been 10th, but I dropped to 11th out of 24. 11th Place wasn't a bad finish as I placed ahead of all 3 guys that I am in competition with for the final two spots in Top 6 for the end of the year standings race.

The winning bag of 18lbs came from way up river and consisted of 5 smalls and 1 Larry. The 2nd (16-8) and 3rd Place (16-7) anglers reportedly stayed in Rice Lake and just whacked the snot out em' on weedlines with Crawtubes. 5 limits were caught, which is actually pretty good and there were 3 bags with 5 fish and 2 bags with 4. I was the only 3 fish bag, 8 guys had 2 fish, 3 guys had 1, and there were 2skunks. 6 of the Top 10 anglers came from the same 3 boats.

Analysis- I knew going in this one was probably going to be tough and every fish was critical. Losing that first bite in the morning was unfortunate, but it might not have even been a bass. I may have had the bites to get a limit, but probably not. The fish dying on me was just bad luck as it was a bleeder. Actually my big fish was also a bleeder that I didn't think was going to make it, but at the end of the day that fish was in great shape. I wish we would have had more time in Little Rabbit as a limit came out of there. I also found myself wishing I had a Zoom Super Fluke to try in the weed pockets of the lake where we caught our fish. After I broke the rod, I put a Horny Toad on my dipper rod. I could have put the dipper on my Herb's Dilly rod, but as it was I didn't throw a dipper at all.

Morning Shore Singles and Theft

I woke up this morning at about 5:45AM, so I decided to head out to do some fishing. The sun was already up and there wasn't a cloud in the sky and no current was moving through at the GOMH. I worked the North side and didn't get a bite. I switched to the SE side because there was a guy fishing for orange bullheads on the SW side. He was getting a few and told me he caught quite a few nice bullheads there last week. I ended up getting a 13" jumpin bullhead on a black/blue Lake Fork Crawtube and that was it. Here's that fish:



Next I went to Jenny's where the deer flies were terrible. I made a long cast to a little open spot in the slop and this 14" jumped all over the Spro Frog.


Next I headed to our lake place for the first time this year. Right away I had a blow up in some thicker rice over toward our neighbor Jim's. I walked over closer so I could work the area a little better and was rewarded with this 16".

I went over and fished on Jim's dock and was quickly reminded why I don't think I can ever have enough hollow body frogs when a pike stole my Spro. I went and got a copperish colored Mad Maxx from the car, but that didn't get anything and then I was done for the morning. I fished for about 2 hours, not bad.

Last Cast

I put on my waders and headed out a little after 8PM. First I went to the GOMH but people were there, so I headed to the Bulldog Holy Family access, nothing. Then I went to Jenny's and that was dead. I figured I was going to get skunked, when on my last cast this fish boiled on my Spro Rojas Poppin' Frog.

I didn't even bother to throw anymore casts. I was happy.

Wading Bust

I got to thinking that wading to the East of the Grumpy Old Man Hole on Platte might be productive with the high water. I didn't get up until about 6PM today and didn't make up my mind to go fishing until about a quarter to 8PM. Since it was getting to be so late I didn't hit Jenny's and went right to the GOMH. I had the Lamiglas Excel rigged with a Spro Rojas Poppin Frog and my 2 St. Croix frog rods were rigged with a Horny Toad and Ish's Phat Frog. I decided to start at the bridge and move East. I started with the Horny Toad which didn't get anything. Next I went to the Poppin Frog and noticed right away that I wasn't getting incredible distance on my casts. I am not sure if the Poppin Frog doesn't throw as good as other frogs or maybe it's the Excel rod or a combination of both. I had a big blow up pretty close in, but it didn't get the frog. I don't know if it was a pike or bass. It was unwilling to hit again. I started going East and popped this one on the Poppin Frog.
I had one more blow up that didn't hook up before I reached the end of the rip rap.

At the end of the rip rap I waded into the water towing my float tube which I was using for a rod carrier. I almost lost the Ish's Phat Frog in a tree. I broke it off at the not and it dropped into the branches of a tree that was closer to the water. I was looking for the frog in the water. I got under the branch I was stuck on, looked up and there was the frog on this other tree branch, amazing. I waded about a total of 50-60 yards before the mosquito's got to be to bad and I hadn't gotten a single hit while wading. I'm kind of thinking that wading farther to the East probably isn't worth my time at least not until I would get as far to the East as I could wade which is about another 120 yards or so.

Mercer Says Use Loop Knot For Slop Frogs

Can't say I've ever heard this tip before, but it does make some sense. I may give it a try, but I wonder about the knot slipping with braid.

The vid is good.

Update: Asked about this on several different message boards. One guy said loop knots are weak, another said this is a common tip for topwater lures. I Googled it and there were lots of results for "Loop Knot topwater." Yes, there were people promoting it, but a couple of results talked about line breaking issues. I think I will experiment with it, next year.

Baxter Bass Snatchers Washburn Lake Tournament August 28th

Note-Washburn Lake is made up of 3 distinct basins (West, North, East)

Conditions for the day would be a little hazy for about the first hour giving way to sun and wind 12-20MPH out of the S or SW.

A number of our guys were none too pleased with the welcoming committee at the public access. Basically, a number of people from the Washburn Lake Association wanted to make sure we weren't bringing any exotic species to their lake. The lake already has Milfoil in it. Apparently, they also quizzed some of our guys about what lakes they have had their boats in recently.

We blasted off around 10 to 8AM from the Public Access on the South end of the East basin. My boater Darren and I headed North to a large rice and pad bed in the East basin. The wind was blowing close to 10mph at this point. I quickly switched from a white Spro Bronzeye Frog to a white Zoom Horny Toad because the slop wasn't the thickest stuff in the world and there were lots of open pockets. About 15 minutes into the day I landed a 13.75" largie. About 2 minutes later I had a blow-up that didn't get the Toad. I cast right back to the area and let the Horny Toad sink in a whole and sure enough, it got picked up and I put a 14.75" in the boat. Right after that, my partner Darren missed a blow-up on his black Spro Frog. At one point we worked our way down a lane in the weeds towards a beaver hut. I made a cast to the South into another open lane in the weeds and had a good blow up that didn't hook up. I cast back to the spot and got a good backlash. Right as I got done pulling out the backlash I realized a fish was running with the Toad. I set the hook and landed a 11.5" which was a short fish (12" minimum length). We kind of got stuck for a couple of minutes but eventually were able to get away from the beaver hut. We worked out way down a trail in the weeds but it was super shallow and we didn't get nothing.

Next, we headed off to some docks in the channel between the West and North basins where my boater had success in pre-fish. We were between docks where there were reeds and pads when Darren said he had a bite. At the time I was throwing a texas rigged junebug Crawtube out into the lake. I switched directions and started pitching the Crawtube into the pads. Sure enough, I had a pickup and I brought in a 15.5". We kept working down the shore and I started throwing a white Strike King Burner spinnerbait out into the lake. I got a hit and brought in a 12.75" bass. Eventually, we worked our way into a little bay. When we didn't get anything there we headed out to work a rock pile in the West basin.  I started out throwing the spinnerbait and had a couple of hits that didn't hook up. Eventually, I got a very small pike. When we got on the backside of the rock pile where Darren had gotten a couple of bites in pre-fish. I switched up to the Crawtube. Darren caught a rock bass, then I caught a pike. We worked the area good, but no bass.

Next, we headed to go hit a fallen tree where Darren got a good bass in pre-fish. We actually started a little North of the tree at the first dock on that side of the bay. There were good looking emergent and submerged weeds here and I got hit right by the boat on the spinnerbait by what I'm guessing was a little pike. We got to the tree and Darren got the first crack at it. Eventually, I started pitching a black/blue Crawtube to the tree and on about the 3rd pitch I had a fish nail it. I set the hook and it was a good one.  18.5" and it would go 4lbs even. We kept working down the shoreline and I got a little pike. We were not getting any bites, so we headed to the other side of the bay to work the weedline and docks where Darren had gotten a number of bass in pre-fish. I pulled a couple of pike off the reeds weedline transition and then we got into fishing docks. On about the 6th dock I had a bad skip that went through and then under the dock. Sure enough, a fish picked up my Zoom Super Fluke. I set the hook, but being that my line was over part of the underside of the dock I didn't get a good set and the fish came up and got off. I ended up hanging on the dock, so we had to go get me un-hung. That would be the only bite we would get on a dock. We did fish several more docks and then we decided to make a move to another rock pile.

I started throwing a Mann's Baby Minus One and got a little dink of a pike. Next, I tried some topwater, then I switched up to a mushroom jig with a wacky rigged Zoom Z-Nail. I had a pike steal my jig. We worked this area hard as my Ace in the Hole said this was his favorite rock pile, but we came up empty.

Next, we headed off to find a dock that was recommended. I am not sure we found the right dock. It was about 1PM and Darren informed me that the trolling motor was losing power. We fished a little pad filled bay that was out of the wind. It looked awesome but there weren't any fish.

Next, we headed to the slop in the NW corner of the West Basin. It was a challenge working in this stuff with a dying trolling motor but at first, the wind actually helped us a little bit. I was fishing with an albino Spro Bronzeye and I had a fish just bump the lure in the duckweed. I cast back to the spot and very slowly worked the frog. Sure enough, it took it and I landed my limit fish, which was 14.5". The wind was starting to be our enemy and Darren missed a good blow-up on his black Spro. Right after that I had a blow-up and landed a 14.25". At this point, Darren was really struggling with the wind and we almost got stuck in the junk.

Basically, we were not sure what to do next so we headed to the SE end of the lake and just started a controlled drift down the East side of the West Lake. I got a couple of pike on the spinnerbait, I switched up to a white Pointer 100 but couldn't get bit on that, so I switched to a black/blue Strike King Pure Poison chatter jig. I got a couple of pike on that. Darren caught a couple of pike on a spinnerbait. I had a big pike hit but not hook up on the Burner spinnerbait. With about 1/2 an hour left we decided to head back and try the shallow pads by the access. I did get a hit on my Spro, but I think it was something small. And that was it.

Results:
As I wrote before my big one was 4lbs even and my bag went 12lbs 13ozs and was good for 4th Place, which equals my best showing of last year and this ties for my 2nd best result in the club. My poor partner Darren got skunked. The Tournament was won by Nate Steinbauer with 14lbs 11ozs and big bass was 4lbs 6ozs. I believe 1 smallmouth was weighed and a couple of guys caught them in practice.

Analysis: I fished clean other than missing that one at the dock. If we had not lost trolling motor power I think I would have probably done even better. Unfortunately, the bass just didn't seem to be chasing on the weedline and flats and that drifting in the wind was totally unproductive. How I wish we had made a move to a pad area my Ace in Hole informed me about. This spot was out of the wind and on our way in we watched one of our boats pull a good fish from the spot and they got another good one right after that.

I want to say a BIG THANKS to my "Ace in the Hole" Bob Downey* of B3 blog for giving me excellent info about the lake.

Next Tournament: Serpent Lake (With a very good showing at Serpent I could move into the coveted Club Top 6 for the year. Currently I am in 8th, which is the highest I've ever been ranked)

*Bob Downey would go on to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic and the Bassmasters Elite Series.

Ebayt Monkey

The Bait Monkey has me on Ebay again. Of late I have picked up a wacky rigging O-ring tool, Academy Sports H20 Express Popper, 3 albino Spro Bronzeye Frogs, and the above pictured Megabass Pop-X.

Later today I will most likely be bidding on a bluegill Deps Buzzjet Jr. and bluegill Megabass Pop Max. These two items are both from the same seller as the Megabass Pop-X and I'm thinking the combined shipping discount could help my bids a little because my max bid threshold is higher.

So far I think I've been getting good deals on everything but the H20 popper, which I bought in no small part because the particular Ebay Store is in business run by and to help our returning wounded warriors.

Off the Dock

Tonight I went over to our place on Platte Lake to get some tackle for Saturday's Cass Lake Tournament and naturally I did a little fishing. I fished from about 8:35 to 9PM. I only threw a white Spro Bronzeye Frog. I started out casting along our dock and didn't get anything, so I went out on the dock and on a cast out front of Sherman's Dock (East) I had something nip at the frog in open water right before the rice. I cast back and got another boil, this time in the rice and I thought it might be a bigger fish from the disturbance it created. Actually I thought it might be a dogfish. I cast back a couple more times without results so I started fan casting.

I got the first fish which was about 14.5" casting almost straight out in the rice next to the boat path which is weed free. I worked my way fan casting all the way west, and then I cast back at Sherman's slowly walking the frog. Sure enough the 17.75" blasted it this time and so I got a picture.

As I was about done, I was slowly walking the frog back in the boat path and I caught a little hammer handle.

Note: I fished off the dock a few night's ago and didn't record the trip cause I didn't bring a camera. That night I got a 13+ inch bass and 26" pike out of the slop, both on the white Spro.

Slow Night on Sullivan

Last night I didn't get on the water until 6PM. For weather we had a pretty good rain around Noon then sprinkles and by the time I got out on the lake it was sunny and calm. I decided I was going to give Sullivan another go. Once again I stopped to fish right by the bridge as I went into Sullivan Lake, but I didn't get anything. I proceeded to fish South on the East side of the channel from the bridge all the way up to the intersection. I basically had one hit, that I missed in real close to the boat. Not sure if it was a bass or pike.

Next I headed to the SW side of the intersection to fish where I got my two big fish yesterday. In close to the bullrushes I had a pike bite off my white Spro Frog which I was able to retrieve. I had a hit from a small fish in by the bullrushes and that was it. A boat with 2 guys throwing spinnerbaits was making progress West along the Platte River Outlet and I didn't want them to beat me to the river so I put the trolling motor on high to get out where I could go with the big motor. On a fluke I got a 10.25" bass on the white Spro Frog as I was heading to the open water.

The guys throwing spinnerbaits were getting a few pike and only had gotten 1 bass, it turns out they weren't headed to the river. I stopped about 50 yards short of the river mouth and started fishing. The weeds looked good, but I didn't get any hits until I was actually into the river itself. Naturally I was highly disappointed that the river mouth didn't give me a few fish, seeing as what a good spot that has been in the past. I think the first hit I got in the river was a pike. I got a 11.25" bass right next to shore on the South side of the river on a watermelon/red Zoom Horny Toad. I was just around the first bend fishing the North shore when I missed what I'm pretty sure was either a big bass or dogfish on the Horny Toad. A little ways down I got a 11" bass on the Horny Toad.

Since I was to lazy and didn't want to lose the buzz tails of another Horny Toad to pike I started throwing the white Spro Frog. I got this nice 15.50" right along the North Shore.

Down a little ways I missed another good blow up. I was around the 2nd bend casting right up to North/West shore when I got a good 14". I ended up working all the way around the 4th bend and did have signs of about 3 more fish but I think 1 was a dogfish and 1 was probably a pike.

There is a tournament on Platte/Sullivan on Sunday and I think if a single team committed to the river and was able to land what bit, they could possibly have a good bag of fish, but then again they might not even get a 5 fish limit. I wonder if 1st thing in the morning the river mouth might be good. I didn't hit the river mouth on the way out because it had gotten a bit foggy and it was getting dark.

Mostly Sullivan

Today I hit the water about 6:30AM and made my way to Lake Sullivan. But before getting into Sullivan I decided to fish the channel by the bridge connecting Platte and Sullivan aka the Grumpy Old Man Hole. This is a good area for me to try throwing the Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm. I went with red shad today. Didn't get anything on the approach to the bridge, but I expected to get action in close to the bridge and I did. I got a couple of bites while I was reeling the worm in but it seemed like they were just pulling on the back of the worm. After a couple of casts with no more bites I decided I would let it sink to the bottom and hop it back. Sure enough a this 15" picked it up while it was on the bottom.
I didn't get any more hits until I was actually under the bridge and I didn't hook up, might have been a sunfish. I worked a little ways into Sullivan and did have a good hit, but I think it was a pike. Once I was past the pads. I cranked her up and moved quickly to East side of "the intersection". The intersection is the area where you can go into the main body of Sullivan, travel into the Platte River Outlet(PRO) in Sullivan, or go down the channel that goes into Platte Lake. I managed to get a 13" and 12.25" on a white Spro Bronzeye Frog. Both fish were in the rice out a ways from the reeds. Didn't get hit by anything in the reeds.

Next I went to hit docks in "Old Cabin Bay." Old Cabin Bay is where we had our cabin on Sullivan at one time and is the Eastern Most Bay of the lake. I elected not to start on the best section of docks but well before that along the point. On about the 3rd dock I got a 9" on the electric chicken Zoom Super Fluke. It was a long time before I finally got another bite. I was about 1/2 way through what has been my best stretch of docks on Sullivan when I had a hit at the corner of a boat lift from a 14.25" largie. About 5 more docks down I got a 12.5" and a little farther down the way got two 8.5" dinks. I put on a watermelon Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm that had most of it's vibe tail bit off. I had a fish swirl on it out in open water I missed on the hookset with the fish taking the worm. I pitched a watermelon Picasso Jig with watermelon Zoom Speed Craw at a few docks and got a 12". I got one more 10.75" largie on the electric chicken fluke before I decided to give up on the docks.

Next I went out to the reed bed that is kind of in the middle of the bay and started throwing a white/silver Herb's Dilly buzzbait. I missed the first couple of hits, but managed to connect with an 11", 13.75", and 12.75". I worked the reed bed pretty good.

Next I was off to the NW corner of the lake, which was basically a bust until I got to the West side of the intersection. When I was first getting to know Sullivan this was my best spot on the lake. A lot has changed in the area since then and not for the better. I was pleased to see the area looking a bit better than it has for a few years and there were actually fish there. I smoked this 18" on the white Spro Bronzeye Frog up by the bullrushes in a little patch of rice.

I had another fish bite a couple of times in close to the bullrushes but it didn't hook up. I don't think it was a big fish. I started throwing out into the intersection and busted a 17.25" on the Spro in a spot where there was a small patch of pads at the outer edge of the rice. I worked the area hard and missed a few blow ups on the Spro and a Zoom Horny Toad.

It was coming up on 4PM, I was out of water and hungry so I called it quits after having fished across to the North West side of the intersection.

All totalled I got 15 bass, 10 of which were over 12", and surprisingly not a single pike.

Platte Again

Today was in the mid 80's and mostly sunny. I didn't get on the water until about 6:30PM and I started on docks on the North shore of the bay our cabin is in. There was a slight breeze out of the SW. I've had these docks give nothing, be good, and be very good at one time or another. Tonight they were off. I was in between docks where there is rice and pads plus matted curly leaf pond weed when I got my first pick up on the electric chicken Fluke and I missed it. Real close by I quickly landed a 11.75" and 14.25" on the Fluke. I had a blow up on the Horny Toad in close to shore, but that might have been a pike. I also had a pike stab at the Horny Toad on a cast to the deep edge of the slop. On the very last dock I got a hit at one of the Jet Ski lifts, but I missed it. I cast back in there and got a 10" bass.

Next I headed to the NW corner of the lake to fish reeds,rice, and pads. I got a 11.75" on a watermelon red Zoom Horny Toad, but the rice was such that a white Spro Bronzeye Frog was the better option and that is what I caught all the rest of the fish on. I got a 15" and 12" close to one another and had a fish hit at the frog kind of close to the boat several times. Finally the fish hit and seemed to get the frog, so I set the hook and the frog came flying back at me and the fish made a huge boil. My guess is that it was a big dogfish that pulled the frog down by the legs. I was working my way North when I got a 14.25", 13.25" and this thick 16.25" which was in the slop close to the shore.

As it was getting dark I proceeded to hit what has traditionally been the best stretch of water, but both the reeds and rice are more sparse then they have been and all I got was an 11 incher.

The mosquito's were getting bad and nothing was hitting so I headed out around 9:30PM.

I did get 1 pike on the NW end with the Spro.

In the Boat on Platte Lake.

Today I got my gear together, so I could start fishing out of the Trophy again. I headed to the lake around 5PM, but forgot the bag with the camera. Once there I got the boat loaded and messed around with my tackle for a little bit. A fish busted a long cast out front of Sherman's (neighbor to our East) in the rice. I was able to make the cast and it hit, but I came up empty. This incident lured me putting the trolling motor down and heading in that direction. I wasn't off in the boat until 6PM. There was quite a bit of activity in the slop but nothing was going after the white Spro Bronzeye Frog. I worked to the reed bed and then I started pitching a jig to holes in the curly leaf pond weed as I worked my way back West. Nothing was happening so I slided in and fished a couple of docks, getting a hit on a bubblegum Super Fluke from a little pike. A lab had been playing in the water at the next dock down the line, so I decided to head to the reed bed off of the end of the North point of Channel Inn Bay. I started out at the tip and worked my way towards shore.

My first fish was a 26" Pike that hit a brownish Lethal Weapon 2 Jig with watermelon Zoom Speed Craw. A few casts later I got hung on a reed and as I was trying to pull it free my line snapped about 15 feet out from the end of the rod. I went and retrieved the jig. I quickly re-tied and got back to casting. I had a hit and set the hook and once again my 30lb Power Pro snapped, this time about 5 feet off the end of the rod tip. I picked up my other swim jig rod that had a blue/pink Monsoor Swim Jig with Action Plastics 5" Super Mag Grub and cast back to the same area and got a hit but the fish got off. I headed to that area and I was able to find the tag end of the line and retrieve the jig again, no fish. I think I'm going to have to give those guides a thorough inspection with a cotton swab, as that I didn't see any trouble spots. It could be weak spots caused by backlashes. I through the Spro Bronzeye up by shore in the rice and reeds and had a hit but it didn't hook up.

After thoroughly fishing the area I started heading to the docks. I got a pike in very shallow on the rice inside weedline. I thought for sure it was going to be a bass. On the first dock I caught a 11.75" bass on a white Zoom Horny Toad. At the next dock I made a good cast and had a fish hit, but I missed it on the hookset and was unable to get it to bite again. Got nothing on the last dock.

It was about 8:30PM now so I decided to hit my best docks to the West of the Platte Lake public access. The first few docks didn't have fish. Finally I got a bite on the Fluke but the fish was swimming right towards me after it picked up the Fluke and I got a crappy hookset and missed the fish. On the next dock I got a bite and promptly broke my line, seemingly at the knot. I cast at the heart of the dock with a Zoom Horny Toad putting my line through part of the dock up off the water and backlashing a little bit. I got my line situation straightened out and there was a fish on the end of the line. I really didn't get a hook set, but the fish hooked up anyway. I tried to pull the fish up and over the part of the dock I had gone through, but that didn't work so I had to go over with the trolling motor and grab it. The bass was 15.25".

I got the Horny Toad re-rigged and decided to throw it out around a patch of weeds (cabbage with sparce rice and reeds) that was out towards the lake. I had what I believe to be a huge bass blow up on the Horny Toad but it missed it. I made repeat casts with the Toad, but it wouldn't hit again. As I fan casted the area I had a pike break me off. Next I started throwing the blue/pink Monsoor Swim Jig. I had a little bass follow it to the boat. I had a fish hit in the vicinity of where I got the blow up, but it didn't hook up. I retied a watermelon Horny Toad and electric chicken Super Fluke. I was throwing the Toad out towards those weeds when I had a pike bite off both legs. I kept using the Toad and got a 12.5" bass. I decided to throw in at the dock again with the Fluke and had a hit, but I missed the hook set. The sun was starting to get low and I wanted to get to where the slop starts so I decided to move on. I had several blow ups on the Toad and eventually coaxed a 15.25" bass to hit after it missed the first time. The Toad was wasted and I lost it while catching in a bunch of weeds.

Next I started throwing a clown Spro Bronzeye Frog. I went with the clown cause I was worried about pike and I have several clown Bronzeyes. I got to where the rice, reeds, and pads, get thicker and missed a fish that very well might have been a dogfish right next to the boat. I started working my way down the reed edge out towards the lake and was rewarded with a 15.25" and 15.75" both on the Spro. It was quite dark by the time I headed back in. The mosquito's really were not bad at all.

Bass Openers Last Stand

Since Bass Opener is always on Memorial Day Weekend I consider the MN Bass Opener to be a 3-day affair.

Today I slept in and didn't start fishing until about 5PM and I fished the whole time on Platte. The day was mostly sunny but had turned to partly sunny by the time I went fishing. When I first got out winds were out of the WSW at about 7MPH, eventually it got calm for about 1/2 an hour, then a 5MPH SE wind started up. Water Temps were 69-71.

My first stop was the Channel Inn Bay North Point reed bed. With my success there Sat. morning I figured this was a place I could pick up a few fish and I was right. My first bass took a Zoom Horny Toad that had sunk sub-surface. I had a fish on and didn't set the hook. The fish let go and then the Toad got picked right back up and I set the hook into a 13incher. I was having problems with the trolling motor not working at low speeds and the wind was such that I had to set up outside the reeds anchor and then fan cast back into the reeds. I caught a few bass and pike on swim jigs doing this. The biggest was this scrawny 15.75"
The wind died and I proceeded to get a couple more bass and a pike on the watermelon red Horny Toad.

A little after 7PM I made the move to the North side of The Big West Bay where the big maidencaine bed is. I started at the tip of the maidencaine bed fishing with the Horny Toad, eventually I switched up to a clown Spro Bronzeye Frog. A fish gave itself away in close to the maidencaine bed. I pitched into the hole with a red/black Terminator Top Secret Jig w/junebug Zoom Speed Craw and was surprised when I brought in a pike. Pretty much parked in the same spot casting out away from the maidencaine bed into the rice, sparce reeds and sparse pads I got a 15" bass on the Spro. I worked down a little ways casting out again when I got a small blow up that missed the frog. I cast back and this time it ate it. I set the hook and my 40lb Power Pro snapped with a crack somewhere along the rod. Since I had a lot of line lost I figured I just might be able to catch my line. While I was moving in that direction the fish jumped trying to spit the hook. Sure enough I spotted the line but it started racing away from me. I had the trolling motor on high and eventually I caught the line and the fish was still on. Hand-lining a bass through rice isn't easy, but I got this 16" in the boat.
I don't know why the line broke where it did, I'm going to have to give the rod guides a close inspection. By the time I was ready to fish again I had drifted well off the maidencaine onto the rice flat with sparse pad fields. I decided to keep throwing the Spro and drift with the wind. I got a couple of smaller bass doing that.

At one point a fish gave away it's location and I cast to the spot and something bumped the brown Snagproof Bobby's Perfect Frog I was throwing. I cast back again and it bumped it again. I cast back a third time and this time got a 13" bass. I put down the anchor so I could fan cast the area. On one of my casts when the frog was getting close to the boat something that seemed to be big charged at the frog but swirled away at the last second. I made repeated casts but couldn't get anything to hit.

Since the sun was starting to get low on the horizon, I decided I better start heading back towards the maidencaine bed to where there is some bullrushes and reeds. Unfortunately in the previous half hour a boat with three people had anchored and moved several times in that area in close to the bullrushes where I was going. By the time I got to the bullrushes that boat had left the area. I managed to get a few bass on the Horny Toad from the bullrushes or reeds including this 15" fish.

It was starting to get dark so I decided to work the maidencaine on my way out. I had a 14 inch class bass hit the Horny Toad and I fought it to the boat where it jumped and got off and that was my last fish of the night.

4.5 hours fished
16 Bass
3 Pike
Best 5 (16,15.75,15,15,14)

For the Memorial Day Bass Opener weekend I landed 74 bass total.

Smith Mountain Day Final & Platte/Sullivan Report

Congratulations to rookie Casey Ashley on his victory at Smith Mountain Lake!

BassFan Story...

BassFan Big Stick John Murray...

Fantasy Bass Fishing Notes: Well John Crews managed to move up to 8th which helped out BP 1 considerably. This tournament hopefully will be the low point of the season for the BP boys. Thanks Morris ya shmuck.

BPboys Score 193, overall place 4201 drop of 1,267places!! In MN Fantasy Bass league dropped from 10th to 18th.

BP1: Score 297, overall place 377 drop of 36 places. MN Fantasy Bass League still #1.


My Sunday Morning on Platte/Sullivan: Not the biggest guy in the world but I decided to take his picture anyway.
Once again my big fish of the day is a 17incher

The Story: I got up at 4:40am and was on the water by 5:20. I forgot to tie the rope off on the trailer, so I sent the boat off into the lake. I ended up wading in to get it, thankfully the area around this access is shallow and sandy. If it would have come to it there was a boat putting in after me. It was a sunny and clear morning with a light SE breeze, but mostly it was perfectly calm.

I first hit the Crossroads reed point, didn't get a bite. Next stop was the PRO river mouth. I got a 16", 15", and 12" (picture 1) on the Spro Bronze Eye Frog. Instead of following the river in, I decided to run to Platte. My first stop was just North of the GOMH fishing the Western shore. I managed to pick up a 15" there, then headed on to the North shore of Platte. The North end of Platte looked extremely fishy but all I caught were the 17" and a 11". Around 8am I headed back to the launch.

Had the GPS out in the boat today and the trophy did manage to hit 20mph, but mostly top end was 19mph.